Wheeled carts facilitate the transport of objects. Exemplarily in a retail store setting, carts are used by customers to temporarily hold and transport goods to be purchased and/or purchased goods either within the retail store facility or to the customer's vehicle in a parking lot. Further, employees may use carts to transport goods within the retail store setting to move or to restock goods, particularly in the sale of seasonal goods for which temporary displays of goods are established within the retail store setting.
In a retail store setting of a specialty store, the goods may be all of a similar type, size, or construction and therefore a single type or style of cart serves all of the transport needs of both customers of the store and the employees moving the goods within the facility. However, in retail store settings that offer a wide variety of products, including products of greatly varying size, weight, or rigidity, a plurality of specialty carts may be employed by the retail store facility to address transport needs. The management of multiple cart types creates logistic difficulties as these diverse types of carts must be managed, stored, and maintained, each specialty cart having different such requirements. These logistics are further challenged when one or more specialty cart type is adapted for use with a seasonal or time sensitive group of products and therefore specialized carts for these products are only needed during a portion of the year, or on a cyclical basis within a year. During periods of non-use, these specialty carts must be stored at further cost and inconvenience to the retail store facility.
The inventors have discovered that due to the specialty nature of some cart types, and the limited actual use of these specialty carts, in an effort to minimize costs, these carts may be constructed in manners that inhibit the maintenance and/or repair, or eliminate desirable but more expensive features or qualities from specialty carts.
Therefore, modular carts that are efficiently reconfigurable and/or maintained address a need that has been identified in the industry.